The city’s rich ice hockey heritage appears well and truly intact with Manchester Phoenix thriving and set for an assault on all fronts this season.

The city’s rich ice hockey heritage appears well and truly intact with Manchester Phoenix thriving and set for an assault on all fronts this season.

Following the temporary derailment of the campaign last week with a Halloween horror result at Peterborough Phantoms, the Phoenix demolished arch-rivals Sheffield Steeldogs on Sunday evening.

Tony Hand’s Phoenix are joint-top of the pile in the English Premier League and also head the English Premier League Cup table after a flying start to the season.

And Luke Boothroyd, the Phoenix’s captain and standard-bearer, has his sights firmly set on the endgame and surpassing last year when his side were the perennial nearly-men.

“We want to keep going as we are in the league, hopefully make the semi-finals of the cup and have a good run at that and when April comes and it’s time for the play-offs make sure that we’re on form for Coventry,” he said.

“It was a season of what might have been last year. We finished second in the league and lost out in the final of the play-offs. The year before, we were league champions.

“Each year our aim is to win the league and nothing else. We want to win the league and any competition we are in.

“There’s no point turning up at the rink if you don’t think you have got a good chance of winning every night.”

The 25-year-old defender believes the Phoenix have an array of talent at their disposal and an exciting blend of experienced imports and up and coming British talent.Manchester Phoenix 7 Bracknell Bees 1

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